Battle Scars
by SeekerForLife
Summary: Originally by Heythereitsme, but I have adopted it and will be continuing it. Rated T out of paranoidness.
1. Chapter 1

Two days ago, Mary Sterling learned that her husband had been killed when the bridge collapsed. Shortly after, her mother learned that Mary had killed herself. Her only child, a baby girl, was left sleeping in her crib. Now, Edna stands on a large ship, the sleeping girl in her arms. This may be their only chance to escape the War. The cool ocean breeze brushes her greying hair, and she listens to the moan of mumbled conversations among the passengers. The Americas were safe, they said. There weren't any wizards there. Thats where they were all headed. When the ship left the dock, the black haired baby opened her clear blue eyes and smiled. Six years later Echo pranced through the unpaved streets of her small settlement, humming to herself. Her long black hair fell behind her in ringlets, her ocean blue eyes alive with excitement. She ran to her house, where her grandmother was fiddling with decorations. Upon seeing the little girl, she smiled and put her wand in her pocket. The two met outside in their small herb garden. "Are you ready?" Echo sang, dancing around. Her tennis shoes were untied, and the laces were brown from dragging in the dirt. The old woman smiled. "Of course, sweetie! Come inside and let me brush your hair first, though." "Aaaawww!" she pouted, but followed Edna inside. She sat patiently as her grandmother carefully combed through the black curls and tied the muddy shoelaces. "Are we ready now?" Echo said, jumping up the moment Edna set the hairbrush down. "We're ready now," the woman said, looking at the little girl. Echo squealed for glee and rushed to the door. The two were walking, hand in hand, toward the Building. That was the only name they had for the dingy shack toward the edge of the settlement. Shadow Brook was in the place of a rare magical anomaly: a natural Muggle-protection. One minute you were in a bar in the heart of San Francisco, the next you were standing in the middle of an endless desert. No one could enter except wizards and witches. The community had built a door that led to the bar, making it easier to find exactly where you needed to go to enter back into the real world. The small town was on its way. Echo was bouncing up and down on the way through the streets. News took a while to make its way here, and the town was still abuzz with rumours, worries, and questions. Had Harry Potter really been the chosen one? Was You-Know-Who truly dead, or would he come back again? Was it safe to return home? Did we even want to return home? The small child remained oblivious to the tense feeling that hung through the town. This was her first time going into the Muggle world. It was an exciting time for her- one she'd been looking forward to for a long time. It wasn't long until the two witches were walking through the crowded streets of San Francisco, the girl smiling and pointing at every colourful shop design. They were about to investigate a very nice-looking ice cream shop when it attacked. Edna didn't see it coming at all- it was like it was invisible to her. Echo, however, saw it immediately and screamed. Too late, though- it had attacked her. Someone cried her name, but she couldn't hear who- she was too busy screaming her own lungs out. Flashes of red and green lit the air. Magic, she thought wildly as something thrashed her about. She needed magic. Magic could do anything. There was another shriek and the lights stopped. "Grandma!" Echo shouted as the beast dropped her harshly on the ground and went after the older woman. Her maple-wood wand had dropped to the floor and rolled in Echo's direction. Her chubby fingers grasped the stick and she began to shout random spells that she had heard around Shadow Brook. "LUMOS! EXPELLIARMUS! ALOHOMORA! REPARO!" She wasn't sure what the words meant, or if they were having any effect on the monster. She was sobbing, shouting, anything that came to mind. "STUPEFY!" A blast of red from the wand, and the monster lay still. "Echo," came a small voice from the other side of the room. "Grandma!" Echo shouted, realising that she had used the wand- something she was never supposed to do. "Grandma, I'm sorry!" she cried. "It's okay, darling," came the small voice again. Echo had never heard the woman sound so weak. They were both broken and bloody, but Echo could hardly feel it. "Can you give me the wand?" The small girl, tears falling down her cheeks, handed the dark wand to her grandmother. Edna was in deep pain, and her face showed it. "Echo, you need to move out of the way. I never, EVER want to hear you use this spell, okay? NEVER." Such a weak voice that could hold so much power... Echo nodded and scampered out of the way of the beast. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" Edna said firmly, and the beast dissolved into dust. Six months later Edna sat in her wheelchair, her wounds still aching from the attack. Echo lay asleep in her bed. Mr. Eastwood knocked on the door. "Come in," called the older woman, wheeling herself to the door. Mr. Eastwood, the voted leader of Shadow Brook, and what he called the "New Order," was a tall, thin man with greying-black hair. He greeted Edna with a smile. "Please," she said, "Have a seat. Echo's asleep." He sat down across from her at the table. "It's nice to see you and young Echo are... recovering." She smiled weakly. "Thank you." Supplies took too long to get here- by the time the potion supplies had arrived, her legs-which had been shattered by the strange beast- had healed themselves the wrong way. She was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She would never recover. "I understand the usage of magic outside of Shadow Brook was necessary, and I'm not here to punish you for it," he said kindly. She nodded. "But, I do believe that some discussion is in order." Again, she nodded. He took a deep breath. "Well... I think we would both feel better if Echo would be able to defend herself in the Muggle world, in case such an... accident happens again." "Echo isn't going back out there," Edna said sternly. "Not for a long while." "Edna," he implored, "please. You can't walk- how do you expect do go out there and do all of your errands? I was proposing something that could improve the lives of all the children living here- a school." It was then when Bitterblue Academy for Young Witches and Wizards was born. Many weeks later, the construction plans had been set. Mr. Eastwood had returned to the Sterling residence, to discuss Echo once more. "I don't believe the creature's attack was by mere chance," he proposed. "Magical creatures don't just go wandering the streets of San Francisco- and besides, I don't believe there are any in the Americas." He paused at the pained expression on the woman's face. "Edna, do you think someone could possibly be trying to hurt- or even kill- the child?" She shook her head. "Echo is six years old, she can hardly hold a wand yet. For you to tell me someone magical, in a place where there are no magical people, is trying to kill her, then you must be crazier than a bedbug." "Well I was thinking this over not too long ago, and I was wondering..." his voice trailed off in thought. "Wondering..." Edna prompted, an eyebrow raised skeptically. "Wondering if it had anything to do with her father." Edna shook her head sharply. "Her parents were great people, Mr. Eastwood, killed by unfortunate circumstance and grief. If that's why you're here-" "No! Heavens, no! I was simply suggesting the fact that she may... resemble her father-" "You know as well as I do that she resembles neither of her parents. She's a unique child." "That wasn't what I was implying, actually." Edna's eyes narrowed. "Mary and her husband were very happily married, surely you can assume so after she killed herself for him." He put his hands up in surrender. "I'm just putting the idea out in the open," he said. "I'm only trying to get to the bottom of this, Edna, surely you can respect that." Over the years, Echo learned to defend herself. She learned to kill monsters and only monsters, and she could do it within a heartbeat if she needed to. She learned memory charms, so no one thought anything was out of the ordinary. She gained the favour of Mr. Eastwood, who trusts her to use magic whenever needed, both to aid her grandmother and to protect herself. Only Echo herself knows about the nightmares. The headaches. The time she was once pushed into a swimming pool- and emerged dry.


	2. Chapter 2

Ten-year-old Echo sat on the couch, pleased with herself. The Patronus was tough to master, she told herself happily. And she had done it- not like she would really need it, of course, since dementors were few and far between here. Still, it was nice to have another spell under her belt. Her patronus, Professor Chanter had taught her, was like an incarnation of herself. Hers was a sea otter- very fitting. Everyone had been blown away when she had shown the kids at school. Then again, everyone was always blown away when she picked up a wand. Strange things happened when Echo played with magic, strange, wonderful, powerful things. Now she could use it to communicate with Grandma when she was out and about, she mused, turning on the radio to a station she liked. She felt so much more free now, so much more open to the world. She wasn't really even sure why. But she was in a good mood now. Her favourite song came on the radio and she had no choice but to start singing along. It was what she did when she was happy. The song ended and an excited voice came on, telling the Muggle world all about different contests and chances to win and other things. Echo reached toward the little black radio and turned it off, her interest lost. She decided to go for a walk outside. Her grandmother was in a New Order meeting, being the head of the household. The government was still getting itself completely settled, but it had worked out a tentative system so far. Of course, Echo could care less about all that boring stuff. All that mattered to her was that she had her wand- ten and one-quarter inches long, holly, with a Thestral hair core- and nothing could stop her. She met up with her two friends, Rashel and Mattie, who had already been on the way to her house. The three girls decided to go to Mattie's house; she had a television. They spent the afternoon at Mattie's house, under the kind yet watchful eye of her mother, filling their minds with cartoons. "Hey," said Rashel as the TV switched to commercial, "didn't Professor Chanter show you that really cool spell... The one to make the little silver animal come out of your wand?" "Yeah!" Echo said, bouncing up and down in excitement. "It's called the Patronus." "Well? Show it to us!" Echo smiled ear-to-ear: she loved to show off. In a flash, her wand was in her hand. "Expecto Patronum!" she said powerfully. A memory she had was very faint, but it was the best one she could think of. In the memory, her grandmother's rhythmic voice came to her through the waves of drowsiness. Warm sheets covered her, and someone was stroking her long black hair. The best part of the memory was when Edna left the room, Echo could hear footsteps. A silver otter jetted out from her wand, perfect in all glowing detail. It swam around the room, flipping upside-down and back again. The two girls were enthralled at the little animal. Eventually, though, it faded. "That was AWESOME!" Mattie cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "Yeah! Totally!" Rashel said. "You think you could teach us how to do that?" "Oh, I don't know," Echo said, stashing her wand back in her jacket. "It's some tough magic... Took me forever to learn..." That was a lie. Nothing took forever for Echo to learn. But she didn't want her friends to feel too bad, now... They were her friends, after all. "Awww!" the two chorused. Echo shook her head, smiling. She was holding giggles in. The other two exchanged a look, and both charged her at once. There was a shriek of laughter as the three tumbled to the floor in a mass of curly hair, tickling fingers and oversized jackets. Rashel was the first to emerge, her long, french-braided hair frizzed from all the play and her brown eyes twinkling. With Rashel out of the picture, it was easy enough for the other two girls to come to a kind of truce and lay on their backs next to each other. Echo's shoulder-length, black hair lay in a spew of curls and tangles on the carpet, while Mattie's silky brown hair lay neatly around her head. The three girls smiled at one another, no words being needed. By the time Mattie's dad returned home, the girls were all set to put their well thought-out plan in action. Rashel's caramel-colored hair had been brushed and generously re-braided by Mattie's mom. Echo had also brushed her hair so it lay limp around her shoulders once again. Mattie, with her self-proclaimed "perfect hair" hadn't needed to do anything. She sat on the bed, chattering away, golden eyes alive with excitement, while the other girls got ready. Mattie and Rashel already had plans to go shopping alone. Mattie had just gotten a new cell phone, and the girls wanted to try it out. What no one but the three girls knew was that Echo was going with them. Edna had made it a rule that no other children were to go with Echo when she explored the city- it was too dangerous, with the attacks (which had been more and more frequent as Echo grew). Not only that, but Mr. Eastwood was very concerned about rumours spreading through town that extraordinarily powerful magical beasts were roaming the city randomly. It didn't make for good publicity. Tonight was the time for Echo, Mattie, and Rashel to break that rule. She hadn't told her friends about the attacks- she was confident that she could kill the beast in a moment. "We're gonna go drop Echo off at home," Mattie said, smiling sweetly to her parents. "Then we're gonna go check out that new store, the one that sells all those earrings and hats and stuff." In the end her mother agreed, and the three girls walked out of the house giggling like mad. The two girls split off from Echo, who walked home to execute part two of their plan. "Hey Grandma," Echo said, smiling. This was going to work, she thought. It has to. Her grandmother smiled and looked up from what she had been doing- fixing dinner. A knife sat on the counter, chopping onions on it's own. A pot was boiling on the stove, with a wooden spoon stirring. The room was alive with magic. "Hey Echo," she said. "I was wondering... If maybe I could go down to that new store? The one that sells all the jewellery and scarves and stuff?" The older woman paused in thought. "Sure, Echo. But be back before dinner, okay? And... be careful." That last part went without saying, but Echo nodded eagerly. "Thank you!" She bolted to her room, grabbed an oversized hoodie and a few bills from her piggy bank, then ran outside. Rashel and Mattie were already out in the city- the three were going to meet in an ice cream store before heading off together. Echo patted her wand as she walked off toward the Building. She was going to need it. Not like she didn't need it before. One instant she was in a quiet, magical desert, the next she was in an overcrowded sports bar. People were clapping, talking, eating. No one had noticed her arrival. She made her way from the back of the restaurant, through the maze of tables and people, and out the front door. Voices were talking, though no words could be made out. Every block there was a musician; once the sounds of one person had faded, another was just ahead. Colourful displays and tall, skyscraper-like buildings advertised new perfume and clothes. Fog hung in the air. The streets were crowded with cars, buses, taxis, and the like. Welcome back, San Francisco, Echo thought, smiling. You were missed. Of course, if there was one part of San Francisco that she didn't miss, it was the headaches. Every time she took a step into the city, her head started pounding. Some times were worse than others. She glanced around spotted it: the bright purple design outside the ice-cream shop. She grinned widely and walked toward it. "Echo!" two girls screamed at once, both hugging her at the same time. "It worked!" The three girls began to giggle. Then Echo screamed. A beast had come up from behind Mattie, one much bigger than any one she'd ever seen. Recovering from her shock quickly, she pushed the other two out of the way and whipped out her wand. "Echo? What's going on?" Mattie asked. Echo only shook her head, and began shouting spells at the beast. However, nothing seemed to work. "STUPEFY!" she shouted. The animal hesitated for an instant, but recovered quickly. It charged toward Echo, who was standing against the wall wide-eyed. She dove out of the way just in time. The beast hit the wall, but both remained unfazed. "ECHO!" Mattie shouted, seeing as the beast was headed in her direction. Echo shouted several more hexes, spells, and curses, but nothing seemed to work. Mattie began to shriek. Echo looked around frantically. "STUPEFYAVADAKEDAVRA!" she shouted in one breath. The moment's pause gave enough time for the green bolt to shoot out of her wand, dissolving the strange beast into dust. The three headed back to Shadow Brook. Mattie's arm had been broken, but was fixed easily. Mattie, however, never spoke to Echo again.


	3. Chapter 3

A small smile played on Echo's tired lips. She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and letting her mind wander. Today was turning out to be a good day. She waited for another few minutes until the class was dismissed. Sitting up and snapping to attention, she packed up her bag and quickly left the room. She loved school, and was really good at it, but she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Especially the other people in her class. At Bitterblue, students weren't sorted into classes by age. They were sorted by skill. Which put Echo in the highest class available- even though half of the spells and charms they were learning were old news to her and the other half took mere seconds to learn. Echo Sterling was fourteen years old, tall and slender, her black hair tumbling past her shoulders. She was the most powerful witch in Shadow Brook, and some people even said the world. Her blue eyes scanned the halls for one caramel-haired kid: Rashel. Eventually she stepped out into the entryway of the school and saw her friend by the door. "Hey girl!" Rashel said, coming up beside Echo as they left the school and headed toward the rest of town. Echo smiled. "Hey!" "Learn anything new?" Rashel teased- they both knew it took quite a bit to surprise Echo Sterling. "Same old, same old," she shrugged. "Though Magical Creatures is being tough on me." Magic was something she excelled at, but in her other classes, she had trouble. Paying attention in class was difficult for her. After all, the classwork was so boring, which was probably why she would find herself distracted and unfocused. Reading the textbooks also proved to be a problem- she had been told she had dyslexia. "Yeah," Rashel agreed. "Stupid test..." Echo nodded. It was only the first week of school, and they were already expected to memorise twenty of the heaven-knows-how-many creatures that tend to live in colonies. Like this stuff actually came in handy in life... All Echo needed to know was if it was dangerous, kill it. The two girls talked until they reached Rashel's house. Once they were there, they shared a sympathetic homework glance and went their separate ways. Echo walked alone, the gravel crunching underneath her worn out shoes. She needed new ones, but she was putting that off as long as she could. In fact, she really needed new everything. Even her biggest shirts were getting a little tight. But she didn't want to go out, not right now. She had been putting it off for as long as she could. It was strange, she mused as she walked past the magic-built, suburban-looking homes. When she was younger, she wanted nothing but freedom, and she had it, too. Now, she wanted restrictions, she wanted rules. She wanted to be where it was safe, and painless... Getting attacked like that had ruined people's lives. Her grandmother's... Mattie also came to mind, but Echo pushed the thought away. She made some wrong choices in her past, but that doesn't mean anything about the future. Still... It was hard to focus on buying clothes when someone wanted you dead. Echo only shopped once or twice a year now, wearing clothes until they fell apart at the seams. Sometimes she wondered why she suddenly found herself more reluctant to go outside. She wasn't afraid- Echo Sterling was never afraid. It was as if she no longer had anything to prove. When she was younger, she needed to prove that she was the greatest witch ever. She needed everyone to know about her power- so she would go outside and battle and feel good about herself. Now... Everyone knew she was the greatest. And putting her life on the line (no matter how small a chance that whatever attacked her would actually kill her) to prove that just didn't seem worth it. Echo's life outside Shadow Brook was still a secret. Only four people knew about it. Edna, who loved her anyway. Mr. Eastwood, who trusted her to deal with it herself. Rashel, who was her best friend. And Mattie, who had moved back to England before their eleventh birthdays. Apparently her mother wanted her to go to some fancy wizarding school there. Okay, she decided, pulling her mind off of the topic of her past. I'll go tomorrow. Saturday. She walked into her house and in her room, flopping down on the bed. She was tired- the school schedule took some getting used to. They started school WAY too early in the summer: the first week in August. Most Muggle schools were still out, she knew, but that didn't make a difference. She sighed. Oh well, she mused, you can't change Eastwood's mind. He was stubborn, no question about it. But he made a good leader, and that's what they all needed. Echo felt her mind begin to slow down as she drifted to sleep early. Fully dressed- shoes and everything- she fell asleep. Chapter Three Voices floated to Kaia in her dream. She didn't know where she was, or how far she was from the people who were speaking. All she could do was listen. "I assume you know why I am here." There was a pained silence, then another man spoke. "The girl..." "She is alive," finished the first one. There was a sigh, one filled with pain and sorrow. "Then what are we to do?" There was another silence. "She is your daughter. I won't lay a hand on her." "You know that's as good a punishment as any!" the second man snapped. "You know full well I can't kill her." "If she remains alive, however..." The unspoken statement hung in the air. "Well you may not have to kill her," said the first man again. "Maybe she will die in an attack." "Don't attempt to comfort me, brother." There was a silence. "She's powerful. And her people are too. They can heal wounds with the blink of an eye, turn back time with the flick of a finger." "Perhaps." The first man said something else, but it began to fade. Kaia only caught two more words before she woke: San Francisco. Many nights later, Echo was laying in bed, fully dressed, sound asleep. Three teenagers were sitting on a bus, which moaned with the sound of talking. The one sitting by the window had ocean blue eyes and long blonde hair. She was looking at the other two with a, what do we do now? expression. The one sitting in the middle, a girl with short, brown hair and unfocused, milky green eyes, had a hand on the first girl. It wasn't hard to tell that she was blind. The third one, a boy with black hair and brown eyes, was looking toward the blonde one. "She could be anywhere," said the blonde one. The boy nodded. "Kaia, you sure you didn't hear anything..." The blind one, Kaia, sighed. "That's about the millionth time you've asked me that." "Sorry." The three lapsed into silence. "You okay, Kaia?" the blonde asked. Echo noticed that Kaia had broken out in goosebumps. "Fine," Kaia said. "It's just... I don't know. I feel like someone's watching us." The boy smiled. "We're fine. Come on, we'll get out at the next stop and do some walking around. Someone with so much power that even the gods are afraid should be easy enough to find..." The blonde nodded. They were silent once more. Echo recognised the city of San Francisco passing rapidly through the windows. Eventually the bus stopped and they stepped out onto the street. Then her blue eyes opened and she sat up in bed. Someone was looking for her. Suddenly she shook off her chills. It was only a dream. She stood and got ready for another day. "My head hurts," Caly complained for the dozenth time today. Drew sighed. "I know, Caly, you've told us a thousand times." Caly shot him a death glare, then sighed and lay back on the grass. "I know. Sorry. I'm just... Not used to being this far West." Drew nodded. "Yeah. Neither am I." Kaia yawned, not really following in the conversation. She never spoke unless someone spoke to her- made things that much less complicated. The three were silent once more, not touching their picnic lunch in the park. So far all had been quiet here, not a speck of demigod activity. But San Francisco was a big city, so they would keep waiting and watching. The three lay sprawled out in the grass, the fog finally burning up to reveal some sunshine. Caly was just getting comfortable when she heard Kaia sit up. "There's something out there," she said, touching the ground with her hands. "Something big." Kaia, though she was blind, could "see" by feeling the weight of certain things on the ground. She was sometimes so good that she could feel a line of paint on a roadway. But San Francisco was big- very big. The streets were covered with old gum, trash, people, bikes, cars, street lamps, and things of the sort. She could hardly tell one person from another. "How big?" Drew asked, sitting up beside her. "I don't know, exactly," she said. "It's pretty far away." "Think it's a monster?" Caly whispered, sitting up. She didn't want anyone overhearing. "I don't think it could be anything else," Kaia said softly. "Well," said Drew, standing up. "Let's go investigate, shall we?"


	4. Chapter 4

Echo fingered the pink shirt. She liked the design, she really did, but pink was not her colour. Blue was. Or black. That was virtually all she wore these days, blue and black. She sighed and poked around the rack, seeing if it happened to be in blue. Sadly, the black haired girl couldn't find anything. Oh well, she thought, moving to another rack. Maybe she'd find something else. Then she heard the beast. Her blue eyes found the snarling, evil thing. Like always, the Muggles seemed not to notice it, standing in the middle of the department store. It leaped at her, but she had her wand out in the blink of an eye. Bolts of yellow and red shot out of it, but nothing seemed to happen. Unlike the beast, Muggles could see her display of magic clearly. However, most were too mesmerised than afraid. She continued to blast it with spells, one arm full of clothes, but it continued to dodge and attack her. It was fast, and agile. The pale, black-haired girl continued to shoot spells at high speed, some silent and some spoken, but nothing hit it. Three Muggles burst through the door. Echo silently hoped that they weren't the police... She always felt bad when she meddled with their memories. She couldn't see their faces, however, as she was too busy fighting the beast. There were whispers, gasps of awe. But nothing mattered but Echo and her attacker. It lashed out at her, scratching her arm. She gasped in pain but continued to shoot bolts of light out. She couldn't use any powerful spells, for fear of accidentally hitting one of the onlookers. Metal racks were being thrown about, clearance bins spilling their contents. Light continued to shoot from the stick that Echo had grown to know and love. In a flash, though, Echo's blue eyes widened and she stopped cold. The three people from her dream were standing there. The blind one- Kaia, she remembered- was holding a small dagger, while the other two had swords. "Get out of the way!" Echo shouted, snapping out of her daze. Weapons or no weapons, they were still Muggles and they could still be hurt by her spells. The blonde one shot her a glare before the three charged in to fight it. While it was busy being cut and scratched by the three Muggles, Echo got a chance to aim her wand. "Stupefy!" she shouted. The beast stopped, frozen. The blind girl dropped her knife where she stood. The other two turned to look at Echo in awe. "Well?" she demanded. "Either get rid of it or get out of the way." The boy drove his sword into the heart of the creature, and it dissolved into dust like they always did. "Get over here," said Echo, her voice softer now. Her heart was still pumping fast. "I think we need to talk." Muggles were standing around, wide-eyed. Echo muttered a charm to alter their memories. This was only a show, she planted. One you saw many years ago. The faint memory is only now resurfacing. And everything returned to normal. Echo even overheard one woman tell her daughter, "You know, when I was very young, I saw some kind of theatre production... And those talented actresses and actors looked just like those kids over there. But of course, the real actors would be all grown up now..." She quickly repaired the damage and looked at her torn arm. Ouch. Eventually the four teenagers wound up just staring at one another. There was no hint of the weapons the Muggles had been carrying a moment earlier. The witch had been careful not to alter their memories, and it showed clearly on their faces. "Well," said Echo, trying to be friendly despite all of her fear. "I believe proper introductions are in order. I'm Echo Sterling." She held out a hand for them to shake. At first two of them stared at the hand stupidly (the third, being blind, probably had no clue what was going on) but eventually the boy shook. "Drew," he said with a smile. The blonde shook next. "Calypso," she said, without expression. Kaia simply said her name, making no move to shake anyone's hand. They stood in silence. "You were looking for me," Echo observed, having no clue whether her dream was real or not. Maybe this whole thing was a dream. Then again, she thought after glancing at the deep scratches in her left arm, dreams never hurt this much. Looking back at the three others, she noticed that Calypso had a small square of...something. "Well?" asked the blonde girl softly. "Do you want it?" Echo looked in puzzlement. "Want what?" Drew and Calypso exchanged a look, then he spoke up. "It's a healing medicine," he explained. The witch shook her head. "No thanks." It wouldn't take much to heal back home. Just a quick clean and a few charms and she should be good as new. "As you were saying," Kaia said pointedly, gesturing to Echo with her head. "Well...I'd kind of like to know why you carry swords with you. And," she added, picking up her dropped clothes with her uninjured arm, "how you could see that thing. No other Mu- um, person, has been able to see it before." "We'd kind of like to know what the heck you were doing with that... twig," said Calypso. The four of them were silent once more, not wanting to spill their secrets. "Maybe we can start simpler," said Echo. "How about you tell me why you're here, and why you were looking for me." The dark-haired boy spoke first. "How did you know we were looking for you? Did someone tell you?" "No," she admitted. "I, um, saw you in a dream." "Oh," said Drew, as if that explained everything. These were three weird kids, Echo realised. Then she realised something else- her arm was bleeding badly. It stung quite a bit, so much that Echo found a cry of pain building in her throat just thinking about it. She glanced at the wounds. They were deep. "Um... I'll be right back," Echo said, her voice suddenly strained. It seemed that the more she thought about them, the more they hurt. She bolted toward a restroom. Luckily for her, it was empty. She locked it with a flick of her wand and got a better look at the wounds. Double ouch. Three long, deep scratches right below her arms. She began to dab at it with wet paper towels, trying to get rid of the blood. Back in the middle of the mall, the three demigods stood, waiting. "Well I think she's just crazy," Kaia commented. "You didn't see what she did to that Manticore," Drew said in awe. "It hardly touched her. She just zapped it with... Well, with something, and it went down." Caly snorted. "It hardly touched her? Did you see those scratches on her arm?" Drew shrugged. "Could we have done much better? With three of us, indoors, in a crowded mall?" Both girls remained silent. They knew they couldn't. "Exactly," the dark-haired boy said. "She's powerful. We can't deny that."


End file.
